


Concussion- Prompt Fill

by captaincravatthecapricious



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Jon fails at self care, Kayaking, M/M, Nausea, concussion, headaches and migranes, hospital mention, jon is a teacher, martin is a paramedic, repairing friendship, tim is a firefighter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-12 04:33:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28754439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captaincravatthecapricious/pseuds/captaincravatthecapricious
Summary: Jon falls out of a Kayak
Relationships: Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist & Tim Stoker, Martin Blackwood / Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist
Comments: 18
Kudos: 97





	Concussion- Prompt Fill

**Author's Note:**

> CW nausea, concussion, hospital mention

Jon doesn’t like the outdoors. In his experience it’s loud or wet or sandy or bright or crowded or filled with bugs or hot or spider ridden or just generally uncomfortable.   
But that doesn't matter, because he needs to prove that things are alright with Tim. He has finally earned enough trust or goodwill or something to be invited on a kayaking trip.   
Even back when things were good, Jon rarely got invited along to these things. Tim knows Jon isn't the outdoorsy sort, but occasionally invites him so he doesn't feel excluded.   
A traitorous part of Jon thinks that he was only invited as a joke. But more of Jon doesn't care if that is true. He earned that invitation, and it doesn't matter that he is baking in the heat or that driving to the lake made him carsick or that he already has 30 mosquito bites and counting. He. Does. Not. Care.   
It doesn't matter because he is here with Tim. And Tim is having a good time. 

They paddle around the secluded lake for a couple hours. Jon almost has fun. He isn't having a bad time. Tim has been cracking jokes, and Jon is having something adjacent to fun. Not to mention... it just feels damn good to be included. Usually it's Tim and Sasha, or on occasion Tim and Martin. Not that this is the first time since... everything that Tim and Jon have been alone together... it's just.... Kayaking is important to Tim. And Jon rarely merits such a heartfelt invitation. And even if it isn't really his scene. It's worth the itchiness, and sore muscles, and carsickness and oppressive heat. It is all worth it. 

Jon doesn't really know how he ends up in the water. One minute he is breathing hard, his back and shoulders burning after all that paddling, trying to convince himself that he probably doesn't need his inhaler (that he left in the car in any case), the next... he is in the water. Life vest dragging him towards the surface... or where the surface would be if the kayak wasn't in the way.   
He cracks his head on textured, blue plastic, and it doesn't even have time to hurt before Tim is hauling him out of the lake.   
He can't say it really hurts. Just the surprise, and the moment of timelessness and involuntary tears when something smacks a person from nowhere. The brief moment of everything being a little too sharp and a little too blurry all at once.   
He coughs as he breaks the surface and Tim's strong arms lift him back into the kayak as if he weighs nothing (which... Martin would say is the case). It's probably the firefighter training.   
Water is streaming off him, and there is some sort of weed tangled in his hair.   
"Boss, you alright, there?" Tim clapping him on the shoulder, almost knocking him out of the kayak again. (Jon isn't sure if the fact that it is a two seater is better or worse). "Whoa there!"  
Tim is steading him again. He's honestly feeling a little dizzy and a little distant. But that's probably just the surprise, right? Probably.   
"Not your boss," he grumbles, trying his best to scowl despite how Bright everything is, and how he really is very very damp and how maybe jeans weren't his smartest move today. He lets that hang for a beat. "...Thanks Tim."   
He offers a tiny smile, trying not to shrink in on himself, like he did... back then.   
"Fine, you alright, buddy? What even happened?"  
Jon shrugs. "I'm in one piece, I think."   
Tim fishes in the water for Jon's dropped paddle. "Maybe it's time we head back, wouldn't want that to happen again. I need you in top form if you wanna come out again with me!"   
His head is starting to hurt.   
Jon flushes slightly. "I'd... really like that, Tim."  
Tim hands him back the paddle and they head back towards shore, and the car, and their respective domesticities. 

The headache isn't exactly gone by the evening, but it isn't bad. Not worth telling Martin about, although he couldn't escape Tim telling Martin how he fell out of the kayak, and having Tim show Martin the pictures of one very damp and disgruntled Jonathan Sims dripping in the kayak, and Jon in Tim's spare workout clothes in the car. And Jon looking faintly ill with ginger ale clutched tightly with eyes closed on the way back. And of course the selfie with Tim giving him a sloppy cheek smooch while Jon wears a truly terrible hat that he has no idea why Tim owns.   
Tim stays for dinner. 

By the time that Jon wakes up, Martin has already left for work.   
His head hurts. Not migraine bad, but he makes a mental note to tuck some excedrin into his bag just in case. Best to be prepared for these things.   
He drags himself upright with a groan, trying to ignore the way that the room tilts for a few moments as he gets up.   
School.   
Right.   
He's got work today. And as long as Martin isn't there to be disappointed in his decision making, a headache is not going to stop him. 

It's too bright outside, and Jon isn’t hungry for breakfast. Tea counts as breakfast, right? That's good enough. There's milk and sugar in there... that has to have enough calories to count for something, right? It's fine. 

Halfway through class, Jon has to sit down. Abruptly. His lecture trailing off into a dizzy silence.   
The headache has become too distracting, the tilting of the room around him making it hard to stay tethered to the Earth's gravity. He presses the heels of his hands against his eyelids, trying to stop the listing of the room.   
He hears a student calling his name, but he can't make himself parse out who. And the Eye doesn't seem inclined to tell him.   
Which is probably for the best, because he is beginning to wonder if he can take much more headache. 

He doesn't know how long he's been down, but Martin is there now.   
Fluttering hands, checking him for a temperature, coaxing him to look up, shielding him from the fluorescent lighting.   
Jon leans into the cool of his hand.   
Martin's hands in his hair, smoothing away the bedhead, Jon forgot about before leaving the house. Jon making an embarrassing sound as he relaxes into the touch.   
Until Martin reaches the crown of his head, and Jon hisses in pain.   
Martin has been talking to him the whole time, but the ringing in his ears has been too distracting to make out words until now. "Jon? Love, did you hit your head? Can you look at me? Tim said you fell yesterday, did you hit your head?"  
Jon struggles against the painful light to meet Martin's gaze.   
Martin is shining a pen light in his eyes.   
Jon tries not to feel betrayed. But the light Hurts. And he just wants to go back to bed, and be held, or maybe have Martin bring him an ice pack, and he's starting to feel sick as well as dizzy.   
"Jon-love, we should get you to a hospital. I need to get you actually looked at."   
Jon whines in complaint, but doesn't have the energy to argue as Martin guides him up, folding against Martin's chest, when his legs try to give with the pins and needles of inactivity.   
He doesn't want to go to the hospital. It's bright and he is very tired. And he feels so guilty that someone... probably one of his students called Martin in when Martin had likely just gotten off his shift and should be at home and sleeping and not scraping Jon's ass off the floor again.   
It hadn't been this bad earlier! He's fine! Really!   
"Jon-love, why didn't you say something?"  
And Jon tries not to cry. "I was fine... didn't hurt then."   
Martin tuts over him and holds him close. 

The hospital is just as bad as he fears, and he's pretty sure he guilty cried on Martin at least once, and possibly also took a nap in the waiting room, but when it's over, Martin shoos Jon into a waiting cab, and trundles them both home. 

Jon is dozing on the couch, because Martin is making dinner and he can't bear the thought of being farther away than one room over, and Jon has never been comfortable about the idea of eating in bed. Breakfast in bed (Or dinner in this case) sounds good in theory, it just sounds messy and awkward in practice. His phone has been confiscated after he sent a brief email to his students. Martin wasn't happy that he already was ignoring the don't look at screens and don't think too much instructions.   
That will be an argument for tomorrow, and the next day until they eventually reach a compromise. One Jon knows Martin won't be happy about, and one Jon will feel the bite of guilt over, but his students need him, and it really isn't a bad concussion. He might let Martin fuss over him a little more than normal, but only until the extra work catches up with Martin. Then it will be Jon's turn to look after him.   
“Jon, Tim just texted. He says he’s sorry he didn’t know you were hurt, and that you don’t have to go with him again.”  
Jon wants to cry again. He breathes as deeply as he can, trying to draw courage into his lungs. “Could you… tell him I Want to go? I promise this won’t happen again? I… had fun… and I want to go kayaking with him.”   
Martin enters the room with his phone in one hand, and a spatula in the other. He kisses Jon’s forehead softly, and starts to type one-handed.   
“And please tell him to not feel badly? I didn’t really notice until …well until you got called. It was just a headache until then. Not even a bad one.”  
“Of course love, just tell me if it gets worse, alright?”  
Jon hmms in agreement.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I am captaincravatthecapricious on tumblr and I am still accepting bingo prompts! Tell me a character and which prompt, and let me know if you want art or writing! Sorry this one took so long, I wrote it a week ago and hated it! Consider throwing me a comment if you enjoyed, and have a lovely day!


End file.
